Over the past few weeks, it’s become excruciatingly difficult to watch politicians and Wall Street experts try to explain our spiraling financial crisis in a 30-second soundbite.

Sure, most do a reasonable job describing the role of sub-prime mortgages in the debacle. But that’s where their explanations typically break down.

That’s because our current financial woes aren’t the result of a single problem or challenge. They sprang up from a complexly interconnected set of issues that few understand, and even fewer could foresee.

It reminds me of that 3-D chess board on the original Star Trek TV series. Unfortunately, far too many of our business and government leaders are still trying to play the game in only two dimensions.